Friday, November 04, 2016

Mumbai: It's top slot as the largest air passenger handler in the country was lost to Delhi six years ago, but when it comes to the Indian airport that operates the busiest foreign route, Mumbai is still up there, thanks to its ever popular, three-and-a-half-hour long direct flights to Dubai.
Last year, Dubai airport handled 78 million passengers, of which 10.2 million were from/to India, said a spokesperson of Dubai airport, who was in Mumbai on Friday. Of the 19 Indian cities directly linked to Dubai, the number one in terms of passenger volume continues to be Mumbai, followed by Delhi, Kochi, Hyderabad and Chennai, the official added. Currently, 79 direct flights connect India to Dubai daily and a year-on-year growth of 10.2% (or 8.5 million passengers) was registered in passenger traffic in January-September 2016.
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) statistics, for India, Mumbai-Dubai was the busiest international city pair in 2015 with 21.5 lakh passengers flying between these two cities. Delhi-Dubai came a distant second with 17 lakh passengers. But as bilateral agreements continue to grant more and more seats, it will only be a matter of time before Delhi-Dubai route takes top slot.
04/11/16 Manju V/Times of India